The City of Bones

Title: City of Bones
Series Title: The Mortal Instruments 
Author: Cassandra Clare
Type: Young Adult
Genre: Romance, Supernatural, Fantasy
Pages: 485 pages
Year of Release: 2007
Main Characters: 
Clarissa (Clary) Fray
Jonathan (Jace) Wayland
Simon Lewis
Isabelle Lightwood
Alexander (Alec) Lightwood
Stars (out of 5): 4.5 stars
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Synopsis:  When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy? 

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know.... 

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously 

entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Review: City of Bones was amazing! I loved how the events weren't draggy like most books and went from scene to scene with a lot of action and surprises. It never lingered on one problem for too long, and you see the main problem before long. And because of that, I literally couldn't put the book down, even as I was re-reading it! Each character, no matter how small had some depth to them and had a secretive side which made them a lot funner to read about. Jace is a shadowhunter who has a sad past but can't help falling for Clary. Clary was a mundane human until she was thrust in the shadow world and found out she was a shadowhunter to find her mother. Simon is a mundane that can now see the shadow world because of his love for Clary. Isabelle is a shadowhunter that puts up a brave front. Alec is a shadowhunter that has trouble with his feelings. This book also has a lot of sarcastic humor (mostly from Jace) that made the story light and playful as well as dark and spooky because of the supernatural. Not only did Cassandra Clare write about only 1 form of the supernatural she wrote about a lot of them such as vampires, shadowhunters/nephilim, werewolves, warlocks, fairies and even demons! And what's even more intriguing is how she managed to place them all in the same story world. Even the romance is suspenseful! It creeps up onto you, first little touched and flirting then, BAM! you realize what torture it was for the characters to hide their feelings. Clare loves to torture her characters!!And everybody knows that Simon's going to end up with Isabelle. There was always a bigger story behind everything, always a piece of the past that affects the future. Don't get me wrong, I love that but Cassandra Clare didn't explain the past thoroughly enough so readers can get a little confused. I guess it's not a good thing that I read the other books in the series before I wrote this because now I can't think of any questions we might ask at the end of the book but I can say this: It was totally worth it to read this book. 

Blue Bloods

Title: Blue Bloods
Author: Melissa De La Cruz
Type: Young Adult novel
Genre: Supernatural, Romance, Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 302 pages
Year of Release: 2007
Main Characters:
Schuyler (Skye) Van Alen
Oliver Hazard-Perry
Jack Force (Azrael, Angel of Death)
Mimi Force (Abbadon, Angel of Destruction)
Bliss Lleweyn 
Stars (out of 5): 4.0 stars
Publisher: Harper Collins


Synopsis: When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America: Miles Standish; John Alden; Constance Hopkins. But some among the Pilgrims were not pure of heart; they were not escaping religious persecution. Indeed, they were not even human. They were vampires.The vampires assimilated quickly into the New World. Rising to levels of enormous power, wealth, and influence, they were the celebrated blue bloods of American society. 

The Blue Bloods vowed that their immortal status would remain a closely guarded secret. And they kept that secret for centuries. But now, in New York City, the secret is seeping out. Schuyler Van Alen is a sophomore at a prestigious private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes instead of the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates, and she lives with her reclusive grandmother in a dilapated mansion. Schuyler is a loner...and happy that way. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts to crave raw food and she is having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a popular girl from her school is found dead... drained of all her blood. Schuyler doesn't know what to think, but she wants to find out the secrets the Blue Bloods are keeping. But is she herself in danger? 

Could those vampire legends really be true? Steeped in vampire lore and set against the glittery backdrop of New York City, Blue Bloods will be devoured by Melissa de la Cruz's legion fans.

Review: Blue Bloods was totally unexpected for me. I read some reviews and checked it's rating on different websites but they mostly said the same thing: that it wasn't such a great book. That's why when I actually read it, I was surprised. Blue Bloods was awesome!! It has all the genres that I love: Supernatural, Mystery, Fantasy, Romance and the characters were totally relatable. I don't know why other people said that they couldn't really relate to the characters, Schuyler was in denial about who she was (I mean who wouldn't freak out if they knew that they were a vampire), Bliss just wanted  to fit in and and Mimi just wanted to get what she wanted. (I mean, who wouldn't) The mystery also played an important role in this book, there was literally suspense at every chapter. The questions were intense, like: Who is Schuyler's father?, Why are Jack and Mimi so intimate?, Why did Jack show a sudden interest in Schuyler?, and some of them didn't even get answered in this book but that's the beauty of a cliffhanger. And don't get me wrong, I love cliffhangers but that was also one of things I disliked about Blue Blood, the author never explains things thoroughly. I mean even after reading the whole book, I still don't understand completely how the blue bloods became what they are and how the silver bloods are any different. The romance in this story is also a bit confusing. If Jack and Mimi (they are twins in this incarnation) had been together for all their incarnations then why did Jack show interest in Schuyler when he believed that she was her mother? And if Oliver likes Schuyler, then why doesn't he do anything in the book to show that affection. And if Michael/Charles and Gabrielle/Allegra loved each other then why did Allegra fall in love with someone else and and Charles married someone else? It's all very confusing for the reader to understand the complexities between the past and the present. But overall, the first installment of Melissa De La Cruz's "Blue Bloods" series is a very good read, even better than it is said to be!